Having the right technical information at your fingertips assists you to select the right Austral Bricks product for your project.
In this section we have provided the solar absorptance ratings for our products.
Solar absorptance is a measure of the amount of solar energy that passes into a material. It is defined as the ability of a material to absorb short-wave visible light.
Solar absorptance relies on colour no matter what material you use. Dark materials have a higher solar absorptance and will absorb more solar energy. Choosing lighter coloured bricks and roof tiles will reduce the amount of heat energy entering your home, leading to lower energy bills and increased thermal comfort.
For the design of energy efficient buildings, architects and consulting engineers need to be able to calculate the heat loss or gain of materials used in construction.
To assist these calculations, our product range has been categorised into three colour groups, Light (L), Medium (M) and Dark (D). An index value has been given to each group to assist with engineering calculations.
These categories can be used in energy efficiency verification software, such as NatHERS.
The classifications of the solar absorptance ratings are given below:
Bricks
We have compiled these ratings for our New South Wales Clay Brick Product Range and they are given in the table below: